Sacred Force
by InnocentDiamond
Summary: Danger lurks in Equinox, a sacred land protected by the Sisters of the Scarlet Shawl. But when two of them disappear, the Night Queen unleashes a massive attack. With some boys' lives in danger, will the newest Sister fight for love and defy the rules or fight for honor and let her love die?


**Me: InnocentDiamond here with my 16th story! First DanxRuno too!**

**D&R: YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!**

**Shun: I counted 16 S's in that scream.**

**Me: Yeah, just to be fair. This story is Romance/Supernatural, but the Supernatural part comes later when they're actual fighting. Speaking of fighting, there was an ambush scene that I think I bombed.**

**Dan: How could you?!**

**Me: This is my first time writing an ambush scene caused by animals, not humans! Crap, did I just spoil it?**

**Runo: The fact that you said that a wild animal is about to ambush us is an important warning! Not a spoiler!**

**Me: But you just spoiled it saying that it was a "wild" animal...**

**Runo: *face red***

**Me: Forget about the animal ambush. I apologize if that specific scene does turn out to be very weak. As the summary says, there is a group of elite fighters who swear to protect the sacred land of Equinox from whatever evil, which will be explain more as the story progresses. I hope the summary isn't that extreme.  
**

**Runo: You should be fine.**

**Me: Awesome! In that case, I don't own Bakugan or Red Riding Hood Sisters!**

* * *

**Chapter 1: ****Dangerous Encounter**

******xXx**

"Huh...huh... Huh...huh... Huh...huh..."

A girl wearing a long, red shawl covering her upper body knelt down in pain. Her right hand clutched her abdomen while her left hand trembled, trying to hold her saber still. She breathed heavily in pain and tried to stand up. Another girl, also wearing a red shawl, stood in front of the first girl, wielding a rapier in her hands. "Get up."

"You know I can't. You're the one who did this to me. What do you want?"

"To be Elder Sister, that's all."

"Then why didn't you just say so? I will gladly give up the position up to you right now."

"Yes, but not only did you steal my place to be Elder Sister, you also stole the man I loved! How could you? I thought we were sisters!"

"Listen." The first girl spat out a splatter of blood as she struggled to explain. "Whether we're blood sisters, step-sisters, half-sisters, or just Scarlet Shawl sisters, you will always be as close to me like a real sister. I would never cause you any harm."

"But you did! The moment I begged the former Elder Sister to take you in, that was when my misery started. Everyone started liking you, even the man I loved. Why? The only person that really cared for me was the former Elder Sister, not you! I'm going to take back what I lost!" The second girl lifted her rapier and stabbed the first girl in the heart.

"If you really hate me that much, then I hope my death will relieve that anger." The stabbed girl fell back against a cabinet and shattered some glassware. "But I still love you like a sister. Farewell-" She died without mentioning the other girl's name.

"No, your death won't relieve anything. I only eliminated a competitor. What's really going to get everyone back to me isn't your death, but _his_. I'll prove that I'm better and more worthy of being Elder Sister than you by killing _him_."

The second girl took the first girl's saber and wiped both bladed weapons clean of the blood on her own shawl. It all just blended in nicely, as if there was no blood in the first place at all._ No longer do I have to see those deceptive eyes that cause envy in everyone who looks at them. Even if she's dead, she's still red with multiple debts that even her death won't repay._

She fixed her shawl and moved forward to her next destination.

**~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~**

Equinox...Latin for "equal night"...name of a sacred land faraway...

This land was protected by the Moon Goddess herself, who passed her powers down to a young girl many generations ago. One day, the young girl was visiting her grandmother. Not long after entering the house, a wolf rushed in and attacked the family of two. Luckily, a hunter came by and saved the girl in time, but the grandmother sustained too many injuries and bled to death.

The hunter raised the young girl as his own daughter and taught her every skill she needed to fight against the wolves and the evil that later lurked in these lands. She grew up and took in other young girls who lost their families to this evil, teaching them what the late hunter taught her years ago. Because of her efforts as the very first Elder Sister, Equinox has in its present day to fight against that upcoming evil...

...the Sisters of the Scarlet Shawl.

**~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~**

"To your left!"

"No, your right! She _entered_ from your left!"

"Heads up!"

Suddenly, a blue-pigtailed girl lunged forward and turned around swiftly, slashing the incoming arrows into pieces with her bladed gauntlets. However, the arrowheads flew everywhere, and the other cloaked girls wined and ducked. "Not again..."

"Okay stop! Training is dismissed!" declared a silver-haired girl as the other cloaked girls packed up and left. She approached the first girl and shook her head. "Runo, when slashing arrows with your bladed gauntlets, you swing _down_, not _sideways_. That's how physics work."

"I'm not that good on physics, Julie..."

"Well, let me remind you that slashing sideways do _not_ bring the arrowheads down. Besides, this is the fourth time in which an arrowhead accident like this has happened since you started using bladed gauntlets. How about switching to another weapon?"

"I can't. My hands tremble when I prepare and arrow shot, wielding a sword and shield is really heavy, and the single-bladed axes have a tendency swing-back."

"What about a crossbow?"

"I never pull the trigger at the right time. Julie, what am I going to do? Bladed gauntlets are my weapon of choice, but I keep forgetting which direction to slash in. Different setting, different orientation."

"No one ever does the same thing in a different situation. Let's eat early so we can practice earlier with less people here." Julie bent down and picked up the broken arrow pieces. "At least we can use this for compost. In real combat, we use metallic arrows, each made from different metals."

"That means my bladed gloves won't work."

"Well...there's a kind of loophole here. Metal arrows are more solid and fall easily. Wooden arrows break apart and disperse. That's as much as I know. Let's eat."

"Sure!" Runo tied up her bladed gauntlets and hung the pair and her shawl on her designated hooks. She noticed the red friction marks all over her knuckles and fingers. _It's not exactly the softest weapon to touch, but at least I have the best control with this than all the others. _"Julie, what's your weapon of choice?"

"A pair of crescent-blade axes. I've practiced with them since I was a child, so they double as bladed boomerangs in a way. Come on, you should meet the other sisters!" The silver-head dragged the blunette around tables to the center. "Girls, have you met our newest Sister yet? This is Runo Misaki. Say hi!"

"Hi Runo! I'm Mira Clay."

"I'm Soon."

"My name's Chris."

"Paige speaking!"

"Chan Lee. A pleasure to meet you."

Runo bowed to them all and stood up. "Thank you for the greetings. I'll strive to work hard now that I'm a Sister of the Scarlet Shawl."

"That's the spirit!" Julie squealed. "If only you knew how to slash wooden arrows properly during practice, we'll all be fine."

"Yeah...about that..." Runo laughed weakly as the Sisters all giggles softly. "I'll work hard on that, too. Trust me." With that said, she and Julie sat at the table and ate their food. "Wait. You said you practiced with your crescent axes since your were a child?! That young?!"

"It's all about starting early. Why?"

"You could lift an ax up when your were a child?"

"More or less. My sister Daisy uses crescent axes as well and taught me. Most of us joined the SSS when we were really young. Then again, there was no way for any of us to control out fate. It's not our fault that the Mist Wolves attacked us and killed our family. At least I still have Daisy."

"Must be really lonely and tiresome being here."

"At first, yeah. They all wear off after we all get to know each other better and train day and night. Besides, eat up. We still have a long way ahead of us."

"You're right." Runo took a bite of her lasagna and mentally sighed. _Mom, Dad, I wish you guys were still here..._

**~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~**

"My compass is _not_ broken!"

A brunette shoved his compass into a short blond boy's face and screamed. The blond stepped back and pushed his glasses up. "Take it easy, Dan. The last thing you would want to do is break it even more by throwing it at my face. Maybe you're wearing something metallic interfering with the needle."

"No way, Marucho. It was still fine when we took a water break minutes ago." Dan tapped the glass surface and watched the needle jump. "I think we took a wrong turn. Ace, can we see the map?"

A mint-haired boy unfolded his map and held it up by the corners. "Dan may be right. There's no mountain listed on the map anywhere. Baron, your binoculars please!"

"Let me look first!" Baron looked up everywhere with his binoculars and shook his head. "I think we went too far and got off the map."

"Baron, that's crazy!"

"Why don't _you_ look at the map?!"

Another blond boy rushed up and took a moment to regain his breath. "Guys, what time is it?"

"It's-" Dan took out his phone and answered, "ten past five. Why?"

"Don't you think the sky is getting dark a little too early? We've been on this retreat for five days, and not a single day went dark before eight in the evening. Either that, or-"

"It's going to rain!" Dan interrupted. "Everyone find shelter!"

**~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~**

Runo applied the aloe vera cream that Daisy made earlier onto the backs of her hand. "I guess my hands are too small for the bladed gauntlets. Either that, or the inside of the gauntlets triggered an allergy."

Julie shook her head. "I think that they're just friction burns. If you want, I'll find a pair of softer gloves for you to put on so that the gauntlets fit and don't irritate your hands. Be right back."

Just when Runo screwed the cap back on the bottle, Chan ran over frantically. "Mira, where's Julie?!"

"Julie said she went to get me a pair of regular gloves. Why?"

"I wouldn't say that this is a big deal, but it can't be ignored either..."

"Daisy, just tell me!"

"Here." Mira took out her compass and tapped the glass, projecting an orange, holographic map in the air. "Chris and Soon said that the skies are darkening a bit early today, and I found signs of life wandering around these mountains. Judging by their heat wave patterns, they're not from here. In fact, I don't think they've been to Equinox before."

"So we have stray wanderers?"

"I'm sure it's not big deal, but you'd better find these people and bring them to a safe place. I don't think the skies are darkening because of rain."

"Will do, Mira. Tell Julie that I'll get those gloves later." Runo put on her shawl and grabbed her gloves, taking the elevator down the Sisters' treehouse secret hideout.

Meanwhile, Julie came back with a pair of gloves to see Runo gone. "Mira? Where did Runo go?"

"I asked her to check on a few foreign people. She'll be back. What's the matter?"

"We're in trouble..."

**~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~**

Dan threw his backpack down and rested by the tree trunk. "I'm tired..."

"Dan, will you stop whining for once?" Ace grumbled. "It was your idea to come here in the first place."

"Hey! We all agreed to go on a retreat together!"

"Yeah, but it was mainly your idea to hike out here. You're getting us out of this mess."

"Guys, please stop!" Marucho begged. "Look, the sky's really dark. We need to find shelter now before it rains or hails. I hate hail."

"Then let's-" Dan stopped after a grumbling sound. "Ace, be quiet!"

"I didn't say anything!"

"Then whose stomach was that grumbling earlier?" The others shook their heads. Dan turned around to look but saw a dark figure lunge at him. "Back off!"

All the guys hid behind the trees as they watched a wolf rush by with black mist drifting of its body. Its red eyes sent fearful chills down the boys' spines. Baron took out his binoculars and looked. "Dan, what are we going to do now?"

"Beats me! But maybe this will work." Dan stepped out and waves his red jacket at the wolf. "Come on! Get over here and leave!"

"Dan, are you nuts?!" the others screamed.

The brunette didn't hear and watched the red-eyed wolf charge forward. "See? I told you that it'd—oh shoot!"

"Take that!"

Before the misty wolf could put its paws on Dan, someone else lunged forward and kicked the wolf away. The wolf stood up and charged again, and the mystery person grabbed Dan aside and tumbled shortly downhill.

Shortly after, Dan opened his eyes and stared directly at a pair of emerald green irises, which stared back at his ruby red eyes. "Um...who are you? Why are you on top of me?"

"I can explain..."

* * *

**Me: See?! I TOLD you Shun and Alice wouldn't appear...at least not in the first chapter.  
**

**Shun: Thanks to you, you scared Alice away.**

**Me: Did I really? But this is...ah, nevermind. I've said too much. Shun will be in the next chapter...I think. Haven't written it yet. X)**

**Shun: *rolls eyes***

**Dan: Why are you on top of me?!**

**Runo: Why did you lure that wolf with your jacket?!**

**Others: Told you he was nuts!**

**Shun: *facepalm***

**Me: It's okay, Dan. You just went along with your instincts, but you must know that a wolf is NOT a bull. That part was horrible. Also, how was the ambush scene? I'm sorry-**

**Shun: The only reason why it sucks is because Dan did something stupid. -_-"**

**Me: Thanks for being honest. ._. Well, leave a review! If you haven't checked out the ending of Lost the Way yet, please do so!  
**


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